In the modern workplace, conference rooms have made way for creative collaboration spaces. But in a company with a dispersed workforce that might not work in the same building, the same location, or even at the same time, a group communication app can create a virtual collaborative space. With team communication tools, collaboration and productivity can reach an all-time high by:

Allowing for a greater number of collaborators: Idea contributions will grow exponentially as team communication tools create collaborative partnerships with your frontline team in addition to your administrative peers.

More collaboration channels: A group communication app enables collaboration to happen anywhere, at any time, through a variety of work streams from group chats, private messaging, and file sharing, to name a few.

Follow these top tips to create a collaborative culture in your digital workplace.

1. Choose Collaboration Software with the Right Teamwork Tools

All team apps are not created equal when it comes to maximizing collaboration.
Choose a group communication app with features that foster teamwork. A digital workplace app like Beekeeper includes digital signage, chatbots, surveys, inline translation, and communication streams for enterprise-wide or team-specific communication. Each element encourages team building and creates a collaborative environment.

2. Encourage Collaboration with your Internal Communication Strategy

Before the advent of the digital workplace, collaborative efforts were generally limited to desk-based workers. Frontline workers, often the backbone of a company, didn’t have a seat at the table. And as the employees with the greatest exposure to your customers, their valuable input can help your business more than you realize. With a group communication app, your internal communications strategy should include a mission of unified communications. With a shared vision, collaboration becomes easier as everyone has an aligned internal brand awareness.

Create an internal communications strategy that encourages collaboration. Start with digital surveys through your team app to get this newly-connected workforce used to a new world where their voice is heard. They will become more emotionally invested at work and begin to use the other features of the team communication tool for collaborative purposes. Include your frontline team in relevant projects where they can contribute. Aside from the amount of great ideas generated, employee engagement will get a big boost.

3. Build Peer-to-Peer Communication for Collaboration and Efficiency

In a digital environment, frontline workers can access information once available only to management. Collaboration software allows employees to work directly together on projects, private message directly to one another, swap shifts, and share information. Not only does it take a task off of management’s desk, it builds employee connections, and facilitates peer-to-peer collaboration. While a simple task like shift swapping might seem like a mundane technicality, it will build communication between employees which will facilitate future collaborations through the team app or on the frontlines.

4. Hold In-Person Meetings to Complement Mobile Collaboration

Collaboration software sets the stage for teamwork and innovation. But collaboration ultimately depends on the human element. Despite all of the technology companies rely on, face-to-face time always builds connections. Hold regular in-person meetings with your team. Being together to talk, laugh, and connect is the ultimate relationship builder, and will encourage collaboration in the digital space, too.

At 1 Hotel Central Park and 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, management and employees collaborate over Beekeeper. But the teams also hold morning rallies where they connect in person while reviewing Beekeeper on their mobile devices. They meet to unify communications, share information on occupancy and arrivals, and work together to plan out the day ahead. As they move on to their tasks, they continue the collaboration through their mobile devices.

“In the morning we do have all the team members grouped together before they go to their task and they’re using their cell phone to access their real time information that we share on Beekeeper to be aligned, to be unified and to share all the information that is necessary for the hotel.” –Ruggero Massetti, Director of Rooms, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge

A group communication app will build an innovative, collaborative workforce with new voices from the frontlines and new avenues of communication. It might just be the most productive channel you’ve ever seen in your company.

To learn how to encourage collaboration in your company, read our eBook “How to Choose the Best Team Collaboration Software.”